The Path
by tgfoy
Summary: It has lain undisturbed for five hundred years, safely hidden from those who would use it. Can one boy prevent it's rediscovery? Can he prevent discovery of his ancestors secret? He must act as a muggle subject is taught at Hogwarts for the first time.


**Disclaimer: Harry Potter Publishing Rights © J.K.R. anything you recognise from her books belong to her, anything else is from me. No money is being made by me from this work.**

**There are one or two minor elements mentioned in this story that tie in with my novel length fic which will be published on this site soon.  
**

The Path.

The excavation was continuing at a reasonable pace, much to the satisfaction of the wizard archaeology teacher. It was his first year in post, and a new subject for the school, complementing the history of magic course. Introducing Archaeology to the course, for all years, was the first major change to the method of teaching since Professor Binns had begun teaching it some centuries ago. The ghost was still in charge of the course, but had, at last, been forced to accept that his methods were dated. This was the school's first practical investigation into the history of the school, and, as such Professor Aston had selected what he hoped would be a simple site, though reputedly connected with a most mysterious event in the schools history. An event he was not sure would have left any evidence anyway, and if any had survived, he doubted it would have survived five centuries under ground. Still the stratigraphy might be interesting, and there were bound to be objects dropped by anyone who had crossed the area, perhaps deep down, even artefacts from the time of the founders, though initially the layers from the time of the mystery would be the target.

This dig was also to prove to the sceptical wizarding world that using such techniques were valuable in rediscovering lost history, and any surviving physical evidence. The techniques were muggle, and despite advances in technology, even muggles still had not come up with a true substitute to the use of shovel, trowel and brush to dig a site. The professor had trained in the muggle world, and brought his knowledge of how to discover the physical history buried underground, and applied it in the wizarding world. In fact it had been Gringotts who had first recognised the usefulness of his work. They had him train their treasure hunters and this had improved the recovery rate of gold, even at sites previously thought to have been emptied. Understandably the Goblins had been ecstatic, the ministry had noted this, and commissioned a study into the techniques to see if they could be improved by magic. The results had been interesting, to say the least. Few people had the delicacy of spell or wand work to effectively use magic on an excavation, and so the muggle techniques were deemed to be the best, and a ministry Archaeology department created. Soon the Headmaster of Hogwarts had expressed a wish for the subject to be taught at the school alongside history of magic. It had taken ten years to persuade Professor Binns, and then a year to design the course and select the site for the first dig from the plethora of possibilities around the school.

Now the course had begun and they had a few weeks remaining before the weather would stop the dig for the winter. Even here in the forest, the cold weather would freeze the ground making digging impossible and sieving samples very difficult. So far they had cleared more recent soils made from leaf mould from the surrounding trees, thus far to a depth of twelve inches, the wizarding world still clinging to the old imperial measurements rather than the metric used by muggles, in the few trenches they had opened so far. The site had been selected as the most mysterious location in a well documented part of the castles history. The story was one that each of the children had grown up with and it was tantalising to hope they might find some evidence of the events that had happened in this location so long ago.

Outside the castle, a well kept garden surrounded an old white monolith, like a gigantic wand with a thread of gleaming black Whitby Jet spiralling down its length commemorating the famed battle of Hogwarts. The names of the golden trio, long dead, were still spoken in admiration together with those of the other members of the order of Dumbledore. Plaques inside listed the names of those killed in the school, and each year the anniversary was marked, when descendants of those revered witches and wizards joined the school, and white sparks were seen over the nation. The day was still a holiday even after five hundred years, the memory of the events still kept.

This site was away from the main battle ground, yet according to the story, it was here that a key event, perhaps _the_ key event of that night so long ago, was said to have happened. It was to here that Harry Potter had walked, alone. It was here that he had faced his nemesis, Tom Riddle. It was here that Harry was said to have been killed, where he died for the first time. It was from here his body had been carried as he feigned death in the arms of his friend, only to rise up and defeat the most powerful dark wizard the world had seen. That much was known, certainly there had been dark wizards since, but none who had reached the power of Voldemort, or the following. Yet, so little was really known about what had happened in this clearing that night, the story was just that, a story, part of the legend of the second great war in the wizarding world. What really happened to Harry Potter that night? That was a question many historians wished an answer to, many papers had been written, none had really proven anything about that lonely walk and the events that followed, the professor knew it was unlikely that this dig would provide many answers for that, but hoped they could confirm that this had indeed been the location the stories indicated, the site where the death eaters had retreated to during a lull in the battle. Indeed only this morning they had found evidence of a fire having been set in the middle, beneath the centuries of leaf mould covering the ground level of the time. Then, within an hour, close to the scorched area of the fire, they had found a death eaters mask, tarnished and corroded, but on the same layer as the fire remains. They had their dating evidence. Records had shown that death eaters would only have had access to this area around this time, in the months of Riddles rule. This could be the proof they needed, though more would be needed to confirm it.

Over the next few weeks they widened the excavation in an attempt to find the edge of the clearing as it had been at the time of the battle. Perhaps more evidence that this was the clearing they sought could be found. The pits created by the rotting roots of long dead trees showed beneath the more recent leaf mould as a different coloured, less organic soil surrounded by the darker loam of the forest floor at the same depth as the fire and the mask. The centaurs watched their progress with interest, especially when an old arrow head was found, fired by one of their ancestors, probably still whilst the area had been occupied by Acromantula. The giant spiders had long since left the forest, their pride damaged by the manner in which Riddle had controlled the fiercely independent race. They were now occupying a forest further north.

The next find had been a piece of metal, blue paint still evident although rust covered most of it, embedded in the layer, a badge of some sort still attached forming flowing letters that read "Anglia".

The find was carefully lifted and taken to the finds table for cleaning and examination. The student assigned to the table that day had been very enthusiastic about excavating the site, a third year who seemed to soak up the information and who studied each find carefully. The professor grinned as the boy examined the metal carefully, he understood the boy's enthusiasm for the site, he was after all a direct descendant of Harry Potter, but the enthusiasm seemed to extend beyond just the site and into the subject itself. The boy had spent many hours of his free time researching Archaeological theory and the items found. He watched as the present day Potter examined what many would have thought was scrap carefully, handling it like a precious fragile object. Potter spotted the badge and suddenly grinned.

"Sir, we have the right place." He told the professor who stood wide eyed.

"How do you know that?"

"Family closet sir, it has the papers relating to the car this is from, a flying car belonging to my ancestors father in law. He flew it to school in his second year with his friend, later it rescued them from the Acromantula, we already know they occupied the place Riddle withdrew to, that is in the official records. This proves that the nest was here, this is a piece of the cars body work, look at the surviving edges it has been torn off, it must have happened as they fled." The student replied.

"Ah yes that was the year of the chamber of secrets incident if memory serves, I didn't know about the car though, it's not in any of the official histories, even his biography written by Hermione Weasley."

"Well that would be because the car was muggle built, but had been illegally enhanced by it's owner, who worked in the misuse of muggle artefacts office at the time, so it's a family secret sir. Though there is a record of him being fined after the flying incident, though of course it doesn't tell the full story, the ministry at the time did not want to be embarrassed by the matter of their own official breaking it's own laws. We have the press clipping though, so they didn't hide it completely."

Professor Aston nodded, chuckling, "More evidence of how little we really know about your ancestor then, Potter. Although of course his main achievements are recorded, it's such things as this that help complete the picture. Oh, and of course, may explain your propensity for, shall we say, stretching the rules. It must be genetic."

"Yes sir." The green eyed boy replied to the chuckling Professor.

It was true that Potter and his friends had a reputation as practical jokers, helped along with prototypes from the family firm, "Weasleys Wizard Wheezes" the wizarding worlds leading joke and defensive product manufacturers. He was however known to be careful that any pranks would not permanently harm anyone, even if the temporary effects were interesting. He was also known to be a caring boy, who shared the family trait for right and wrong. He often used his pranking ability to get revenge on any who bullied others, but never to threaten or bully. He was well liked by most and worked hard, never letting the attention his family still received because of his ancestor go to his head, as it so easily could have. The professor had no hesitation in accepting what the boy had said about the car, it was thought that the golden trio had not revealed everything about their legendary quest to any but those closest to them. Such things could easily have been kept in the family for all this time.

The last day of the dig was the day before Halloween, though it was hoped to resume the excavation in April if the weather allowed. At that time it was hoped to be able to open more trenches and continue the existing ones to see if anything from even earlier periods survived. In the meantime there were finds to process, over 100 of them in the end, as well as soil samples to analyse, conserve and interpret, reports to write, drawings and photographs to study, certainly the classes would be busy. The students on site were simply cleaning the sections they had been working in, ensuring they were stable for the winter, so they could carry on in the spring from where they left off, without worrying about material washing into the trenches ruining the layer they had reached too much. The trenches were to be protected by charms as an added precaution anyway, but this work was necessary so they could start afresh. Drawings of the trenches were being made, photographs taken and tools gathered in as the dig was being closed down.

Potter was in a trench near what had been the edge of the clearing. There seemed to be a more compressed area of soil running along the centre of the base, perhaps indicating it had been a simple narrow earth path, it was aligned to head to the clearing from the castle. He was gently clearing the loose soil into his shovel to be cleared for examination later, when something glinted beneath the blade of his trowel. He stopped and picked up the black stone and examined it, it was broken, he looked around the area where it had been to see if the rest of the polished stone were there. A moment later he spotted a similar glint, he picked up the object and carefully examined it too. Holding the two pieces together, they fitted perfectly, he could see markings engraved on the most polished side, it's shape indicated it might have come from a ring, the markings probably on the display side of it. He gasped as he felt the magical power in the artefact and realised what it might be. If his suspicions were correct this was a dangerous object, mentioned in his ancestor's papers, the ones that had never been published. If anyone else had found it they would not have known it's significance. The stone was well known, but only as a myth, but Potter suspected this was what he had been worried would be found. If he was right it had once been part of a Horcrux, it was one of the Hallows and had been given to his ancestor, it was a significant magical object the existence of which had been hidden from the wizarding world by his family for half a millennia. It confirmed to him that his ancestor had indeed been in this clearing on the night of the Battle of Hogwarts it was precisely the kind of evidence he knew the professor had hoped for on this site. Potter wondered briefly if he should let the others know he had found it, he had to choose between family loyalty or loyalty to the investigation. They had been told that they should remove nothing found from the site without it being catalogued or it could ruin the entire investigation, His choice was not easy, he needed time to consider, time to talk to the one person who would know what to do, the one he had already consulted about the dig, he owed this person that, he was after all family.

He had talked to the portrait when the dig had started and kept it informed, his kin had warned of the possibility that the stone could be found, had feared it would be found, had even told him whereabouts it might be, so Potter had watched the trench closely once it had been opened close to where he thought he had been told. He volunteered to work the trench whenever possible, the portrait had shown relief each day when he reported it had not yet been found, he wondered what the reaction would be if this was the stone he thought it was. If it wasn't he would sneak it amongst the finds, but if it was, well, he knew what he would have to do.

He pretended to stretch, glancing round, making sure no one was watching him, he couldn't let anyone else know about this, at least not yet, he would have to break the site rule, risk failing the course as a result, possibly further punishment, but he knew he had to do it. No one was watching, they were too engrossed in completing their work, in the short time left to them. He swiftly conjured a finds bag and placed the two halves in it. Calmly he put it safely in his bag at the side of the trench and returned to his work.

That evening, as Potter left the common room under the invisibility cloak that had been passed through his family for generations, in the back of his mind was the thought that if the stone in his pocket was what he thought it was he was now in possession of two of the three hallows his family were sworn to hide. He moved swiftly and silently through the dark deserted corridors of the castle with practised ease, until he stood before the portrait of his illustrious ancestor in the defence corridor, he cast a silencing charm around the area and looked grimly up at the figure in the frame.

"I think I have it." he said.

"Where?" came the reply.

The boy who greatly resembled the older figure in the portrait reached in his pocket and retrieved the clear bag containing the two halves of stone, he took them out and placed them together in the palm of his hand before holding them up for the painting of his ancestor to see.

"Yes that is it." The figure said sadly."Does anyone else know you have it?"

"No, I found it today next to the remains of the path you told me about the other day. I managed to hide it without anyone seeing."

"Good, thank you for taking the risk my boy, I'm glad you recognised it."

"I wasn't sure, but felt the magic so guessed it might be, I thought it best to check with you before reporting it if it wasn't what I suspected."

"Thank Merlin." breathed the figure. "We must ensure it remains secret, we cannot risk the three being reunited again. The wand should be powerless since I died a natural death, but it is safe anyway, no one can breach its hiding place, Hermione saw to that. Still like the cloak its true nature must not be discovered, it is our families responsibility, which means it's yours."

"Yes sir."

"You know what you must do."

"Yes sir, as we discussed." The young Potter sighed "I know it's the right thing to do, though if the professor ever finds out, I will be in trouble."

"I know, but it is vital the truth about it's existence is kept secret, if it was ever known the Hallows were real, then it would be very dangerous as others tried to become masters of death, you know that."

"I know sir, don't worry I will do what I must, I won't let you down."

"I know you won't." The portrait smiled. " Well done my boy, I am proud of you."

"Thank you sir."

His ancestor's portrait winked and grinned mischievously at the boy. "Now tell me what prank you have planned with Peeves and your cousins for tomorrows feast Harry."


End file.
